Sales Questions

Q: Why choose Reflex as your spray-on bedliner system?

A: Reflex is the lowest priced, easiest to use spray system that yields the best results. Nobody else offers a professional system for bedliners that comes anywhere close to the Reflex System! It is Professional, Simple, and Affordable.

Q: Is Reflex Truck Liners a franchise?

A: No, Reflex is not a franchise and furthermore, we have never considered spray-on truck liners to be a stand-alone business any more than the sale of plastic drop-in liners. Langeman Manufacturing Ltd., the parent company of Reflex, manufactures and sells the proprietary equipment, chemical, supplies, and use of trademark under license as an add-on to businesses that are typically involved in the automotive aftermarket. We do not offer what certain competitors refer to as protected territories. We consider the franchise-type business model unreasonably restrictive and too expensive for the spray-on truck liner market, a market that has numerous competitors with a mainstream product offering. The price of our new GLPro Spray System compares to a top-drawer welding machine; something that you can purchase without franchise startup costs and use restrictions.

Q: What is the average retail selling price for spray-on bedliners?

A: After polling shops across the country, the average cost for a 6.5 foot truck box sprayed blank and under the rail continues to be $400 USD. In some areas, shops are charging as much as $500 for the standard black liner, while in other areas shops are discounting the service for less. Color options, applying over the rail, and thicker commercial coatings can all raise retail prices and gross profit figures.

Q: Who provides the customer warranty?

A: Each Reflex dealership is independently owned and operated and as such, the Dealer is responsible for ensuring the highest level of quality.

Equipment Questions

Q: How does the Reflex System compare to other professional spray systems?

A: The Reflex System uses low-pressure (80psi.) and low-heat, which produces minimal over-spray and vaporization, ensuring operator safety and allowing for a thick, even coat of polyurethane to be applied with ease. Other professional spray systems utilize higher pressures that can reach 2,500psi. and require highly-heated fluids. This type of system generates excessive over spray and extreme levels of vapor inside an enclosed spray area.

Q: Why is Reflex a better system than the other spray-on products being offered?

A: There are a lot of products on the market that can be used to apply spray-on truck bed liners.

Slow-Cure (Do It Yourself Products):Typically, do-it-yourself truck bed liner products require no investment of machinery. These are usually one-gallon kits that have a slow reaction time after mixing and are applied with a Shutz gun or a hopper gun. The problems with these products are:

• They don't cure until next day.
• They are messy to work with and difficult to apply.
• They don't develop good cross-linked physical properties necessary for abrasion and tear resistance.
• They are extremely difficult to apply with a satisfactory thickness.
• They are very expensive per gallon.

Fast-Cure (Low Pressure & High Pressure): We need to separate the fast-cure systems into the categories of low-pressure and high-pressure, some of which should be considered professional and some that should not.

Low-pressure systems (like Reflex®) use a static mix-tube in the spray gun to mix the two reactive fluids, while high-pressure systems utilize impingement-mix spray guns whereby the two reactive fluids are forced together at high pressure for proper mixing. High-pressure systems are not only complex by nature, but involve the use of expensive fluid heaters, hose assemblies and spray guns. Low-pressure systems use very similar components but replacement costs are much lower.

High-pressure systems were designed to spray large volumes of fluid over very large areas and are effective at doing just that, however, the problem with these systems is when they are used in a confined area for small applications like a pickup truck. The GXPro Spray System has been developed specifically for smaller areas, such as the truck bedliner process.

Click here for more information on comparable products >>

Q: Is there a warranty on the machinery?

A: Yes! All Langeman Manufacturing Ltd. equipment is warranted for FIVE (5) YEARS from date of shipment. Click here for more information on our Equipment Warranty >>

Application Questions

Q: What kind of training is required?

A: It is imperative that all new Reflex Dealers attend the training sessions, in an optimal environment to train dealers on how to use the spray system, which is our world-class facility in Salt Lake City. Our professional training will educate your technicians on the proper application techniques to consistantly produce high-quality spray-on truck bed liners that will result in satisfied customers. Click here to learn more about our professional training >>

Q: How long does it take to apply a Reflex spray-on bedliner?

A: The time varies among shops and depends largely on the ability of the technician and the way in which the shop is set up. From the start of preparation to the completion of clean-up, the average job is three hours with one man working alone, however some shops complete the job in just over two hours with a little help from an extra person.

Q: How long does it take for Reflex to cure?

A: With our Polyurea Hybrid Chemistry gel time is 10-12 seconds and initial cure (dry to touch), is two minutes. The liner can be trimmed and de-masked immediately after application and handled or touched without leaving finger print marks in approximately 15 minutes. Full, rugged use of the new bedliner should wait for one day. Casual use after five hours at 70 degrees is acceptable. If the outside temperature is below the freezing point, the truck should stay inside for two to three hours to assist the initial cure stage.

Chemical Material Questions

Q: Why is Reflex supplied in five-gallon containers when most of the other available systems are shipped in 55-gallon barrels?

A: The GXPro Spray System is designed to be portable and simple. Most small shops do not own a forklift, which is needed to handle barrels properly. Using 55-gallon barrels makes portability impossible and the entire system becomes complicated. When using barrels, it is difficult to heat the materials without using a hot room; transfer pumps are required; there is a lot of plumbing involved and overall, it becomes an industrial factory setup.

When you go through all of the issues associated with barrels, including safety, handling, storage, and disposal, the benefits of using five-gallon pails is clear. Five-gallon pails can be handled by anyone; there is little concern of contaminating a small quantity of material, and when empty, they are easily disposed of without further costs. Our machinery is designed to simply top up the tanks from five-gallon pails after each truck bed liner is completed. It's a procedure that only takes a few minutes and is part of a comprehensive system of checks and balances.

Q: Is Reflex UV Stable?

A: The short answer is yes, Reflex is UV stable, but the one question does not address the true concern regarding the retention of the original appearance. Many truck bedliner groups claim UV stability and yet look terrible less than one year later. UV stability only means that the material won't fail due to exposure to sunlight. It's really something that needs better interpretation. Color stability and resistance to premature oxidation of the surface are the two most important issues from the standpoint of how a truck bed liner looks two years down the road. Our Polyurea Hybrid Chemistry is formulated from a group of polyols and isos that perform as well as cured urethane material exposed to intense direct sunlight.

Our primary concern is that a Reflex truck bedliner looks as close to original condition on its second birthday. We know from years of trials that when we get that much longevity, the following years will also be satisfactory to the customer and repeat sales will follow. We also use the best colorants, including automotive color toners that have a proven UV performance history.

Q: Spray-on Bedliners: Hard vs. Soft vs. Flexible. How does Reflex compare?

A: Some truck bedliners are made from relatively hard, rigid materials and most competitors trying to market harder products like to refer to Reflex as being “soft”. Reflex really isn't soft but rather extremely flexible. Just like the rubber used in car tires; you wouldn't think of a tire as being soft or fragile, and you also know that a tire is extremely rugged and will withstand a lot of abuse. If car tires were made from a harder, more rigid rubber composition, three things would change: The vehicle would be a lot noisier because of the rough ride, the tires would wear out much sooner, and you would slide a lot farther while trying to stop. Hardness is not a measure of durability and abrasion resistance.
Our Polyurea Hybrid Chemistry is formulated to have the properties of a rubbery inline skate wheel instead of hard plastic. Reflex’s flexibility results in fantastic grip, and its surface will protect the cargo from sliding, scratching or marking.
Another example of flexible material strength is the liner inside of concrete pumping hoses that utilize a very flexible rubber for the best possible resistance to severe abrasion. Reflex will outperform any other truck liner product in a sandblast chamber because it does not chip away from the jagged profile of the blasting sand.

Q: How do the physical properties of Reflex compare to others?

A: Reflex has a Shore A hardness of 85, Tensile strength of 2,000 psi. and elongation of 600%. It is difficult to use these numbers to make an accurate comparison between products, however, because all three numbers need to be considered together. Paper, for example, at the same thickness as a rubber band is a harder material and will have a higher tensile strength, yet it will cut easily compared to the rubber and tear rather than stretch. Similarly, concrete has a high tensile strength but doesn't make for a good truck liner. The materials should be tested for suitability of purpose, apart from focusing on one particular specification. We could be misleading by focusing on elongation alone, but the real test of a material is in an extended field test where all elements come into play.

Q: Can Reflex be used in other applications?

A: As soon as someone examines a sample of Reflex material, one of the first questions asked is always, "what else can this be applied to?" The answer is that Reflex can be applied to just about anything. Reflex can be applied to foam, wood, cardboard, wallboard, concrete, fiberglass, aluminum, etc., providing all of the right preparation procedures are performed correctly. Reflex is weather, chemical and abrasion resistant material rugged enough to withstand many abusive environments. It is also extremely flexible and provides a rubbery, skid resistant surface that has by its own nature, a very friendly surface. So why not do floors, countertops, playground equipment, machinery parts, roof areas, etc., etc? All of these applications and many others have been done using Reflex chemicals and spray equipment, however these are OEM or contractor-type applications that require the experience and skill of an industrial contractor. Langeman cautions anyone who wants to pursue industrial contract or OEM work about the problems that can and will be encountered. When applying polyurethane to concrete for example, all of the right preparation procedures have to be completed correctly and even then, many contractors are surprised months and years later that the application failed due to unforeseen factors such as trapped moisture beneath the concrete surface, a failed top surface of the concrete, embedded contamination, etc.

EVERY APPLICATION REQUIRES EXTENSIVE TESTING FOR SUITABILITY OF PURPOSE! Certain companies selling spray systems have failed to warn potential customers of the risks involved. Because of this many have suffered substantial financial losses on jobs related to pool coatings, wood decks and roof applications that have failed for various reasons and the cost of the remedy is unrecoverable. Langeman teaches and supports the application of pickup truck liners and has 14 years of experience in this field of expertise. Our technical support team is available to answer all the questions or concerns that you have prior to the application.

Shop Requirements

Q: Do you recommend a spray booth?

A: A spray booth, such as the patent-pending TruckLiner WorkStation™, is recommended. While our Polyurea Hybrid Chemistry comprises 100% solids and does not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or produce flammable vapors, the spray process does create trace amounts of airborne MDI (isocyante) and necessitates a good exhaust system, personal protection, and isolation from other work areas. A hood-type fresh air respirator system is best, along with gloves and spray suit.

Some personal protection is always required when coating materials are atomized in spray applicators, however, a spray paint booth similar to the ones in an auto body repair shop is not fully necessary. Most spray-on bedliner shops have an isolated room with sufficient filtration and appropriate exhaust fan capacity.

Q: Is a compressor required for the Reflex System?

A: Yes, a compressor is required. For good atomization of the fluid stream at the spray gun nozzle, only compressed air will generate the necessary velocity to achieve a well-defined spray pattern, especially when higher flow rates are desired for faster production. The problem with using a low velocity blower to generate atomization air is the resulting inadequate spray pattern, especially when the flow rate is increased, causing a sputtering type spray situation. Because most shops use air tools for speeding up truck bed preparation, the minimum size compressor should be five horsepower with a CFM rating of 12-15. For mobile work, a three horsepower compressor would be adequate. However, every shop should test the unit before purchasing to be sure you would be satisfied with the performance.

Q: Are there other shop requirements?

A: If you don't already have a TruckLiner WorkStation™ or an air dryer system, we recommend the use of a desiccant or membrane air dryer that is coupled inline with a simple water coalescing filter and oil mist separator. The last thing that you want in your atomization air is moisture generated by condensation in the air conduit between your shop air outlet and the air compressor.